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Indian child strangled in ritual that promised treasure

In a shocking incident reflecting prevalence of superstitions, a 10-year-old child was allegedly sacrificed in Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli district by some people, in their bid to trace a ‘hidden treasure’ to become rich.

The child, Aman Kumar went missing from his house at Jamunapur village in the district on October 6. He had gone to see Ramlila but never returned home. His body was recovered from a ditch outside the village a few days ago.

There were injury marks all over the body. A red colour cloth, incense sticks and other articles were found near the body. It prompted police to suspect sacrifice after an exorcism attempt.

The child was strangled. The perpetrators said “We were told that if we sacrificed a child, we would be able to find the treasure”. They were told this by a “tantrik”.

In Indian villages, tantriks are still not quite hard to find. Many of them help the villagers solve their problems. Every person who has lived in the villages or has spent his childhood there, has a story to tell. What is so easily believed in the villages might appear illogical and unscientific to the rational urban mind, but these phenomena are realities of life.

I’d say this is a problem created instead of solved. The people were arrested but I would have no idea what happens to those who do this.